Epic Weekend. Day 2

Day 2.

  The rain had quit overnight, and we awoke to a clear and crisp morning.

  We discussed riding options over breakfast and coffee.

  There were several options for riding right where we were, but I was jonesin' to hit North Mountain Trail (aka Dragon's Back).  Dragon's Back is one of the most rugged, difficult trails around.  Extremely rocky and technical ridgeline riding with constant views.  Joel was down with that, so we packed up and headed south.    We parked at Stone Coal Gap, which is where North Mountain trail intersects with Broad Run forest road.  Our plan was to ride Broad Run forest road to Wildife Road then on to Grouse Trail.  Climb Grouse to North Mountain, then ride the "Dragon's Back" all the way back to the truck.    This would cover much of the Dragon's Tale Race Course.

  We got our stuff together and set out for some adventure.  The ride started with a long, gradual descent on Broad Run.  There were several crossings of the run but the water was at a good moderate level.  I have memories of racing the Dragon's Back race a few years ago when some of these creek crossings were 2-3 feet deep.  The scenery was really nice along Broad Run and continued when we turned left onto the gated and closed Wildlife Road.  We meandered back and forth, up and down on Wildlife Road until we got to Grouse Trail.

Grouse is a 1.5 mile steep climb up to the ridgeline and North Mountain Trail.
 Looks easy enough on the map.

We worked our way up the climb, riding much more of it than we thought we could. 



  Once upon the back of the Dragon, we took a short break, before rolling the narrow,rocky spine.

I wish I would have taken more pictures on the ridge.  Here are some more that I ripped off. 
The views are constant with the leaves not having popped out yet.
Looking east across the Catawba Valley at Tinker Mountain.  You can see "Tinkers'Cliffs"  The Appalachian Trail goes across it.  I camped on the cliffs backpacking a couple years back.  Also Carvin's Cove is on the other side.

Roanoke Cement Plant.

We stopped to clear a tree.

  We reached the end of the ridge and enjoyed the final descent down to Stone Coal Gap and the truck.  Another awesome ride.  Perhaps the best in a while.  I realized that both rides of the weekend both started and ended with downhill.  We had no mechanical problems (not even a flat), and no crashes.  Hard to beat.  We loaded up and headed for home.